Want To Be More Productive? Take a Recess Break!

This installment is from guest blogger, Rosie.  I highly recommend her as a massage therapist if you are in the Chicago area.

"I'm late... I'm late... for a very important date!"

You are probably familiar with this quote from the popular book by Lewis Carroll, and the Disney animated feature, "Alice In Wonderland". You might even identify with the frenzied White Rabbit's famous mantra on a regular basis. How often do you, like the rest of American society, find that you are constantly on the go, constantly having to shuffle from one place, one meeting, one appointment, to another? Maybe you feel like the traffic signal of your personal life is chronically stuck on green with no yellow or red light to let you slow down or catch your breath.

It's a challenging paradox.  That "GO!" mode that we are always in may be what sustains our livelihoods  even while it may also be the very thing that brings us down. We are a working society...we pride ourselves on the fact that we work hard. It is not unusual for many full time employees, as well as self-employed folks, to tally up 50-60 hours of work a week. But have you noticed how we seem to be working more and more and NOT necessarily getting any more out of life than we did before?

If anything, we are getting LESS--less sleep, less nutrition, less exercise, less focus on our health, less vacation time and days off, less self-nurturing. We are working harder, but not necessarily smarter. We have become an "Open 7 Days a Week, 24 Hours a Day, 365 Days a Year" kind of society that does not appear likely to stop this pace, particularly as technology has worked to keep us continually available and plugged in. In our quest for productivity coupled with hopes for a flourishing economy, we deplete ourselves by denying what every human and every animal on this earth needs--TIME OUT. We need time to restore ourselves so that we CAN be productive. We need time to relax and detach from the work aspect of our lives so that we can be renewed and function properly.

When was the last time you truly took a long, honest vacation--I mean one where you didn't bring any sort of work with you, one that lasted more than just a weekend and that allowed you to go somewhere you really wanted to be, and spend time with people you really wanted to be with? In an article entitled, "What Vacation Days?", David Moberg discusses the drastic difference between the European and American work ethic and how taking time off (or not) has impacted the general work industries and personal lives of each society. He writes:

"According to Harvard economist Alberto Alesina, Europeans are happier, and have less stress and insecurity, which is good for health and longevity. Studies in the United States, for example, indicate that taking vacations cuts in half the risk of heart attacks for men. Longer, mandated vacations haven't undercut the competitiveness of other rich countries, and there's evidence that they increase labor productivity."

In another article called, "The Changing Workplace--Smashing the Clock", Michelle Conlin demonstrates how one company (Best Buy) has shifted it's employees' work patterns so that they are free to take time in the middle of the day to catch a movie or do whatever it is they feel like--and STILL get their work done! We have to work to make a living, and we have to make a living in order to survive. But we DON'T have to kill ourselves in the process.

In my meditation group today, the idea of being a HUMAN BEING instead of a HUMAN DOING came up. WOW!!! Think about how much more pleasant the world would be if we could all implement this way of life? The reality is, we may not get 5 or 6 weeks of vacation time a year, and maybe we're lucky if we can take off work an hour early. But what we can do is give ourselves a little "vacation time" each day, whether it's 10 minutes or an hour.

We owe it to ourselves in order to become more productive.

Remember how it was in elementary school? We couldn't wait for recess (and neither could our teachers, for that matter) so that we could run around and play and not have to think about schoolwork for at least a good 20 minutes. Children need that time off--it helps them to be more focused and less antsy in the classroom. The thing is, we don't outgrow that need as we get older. We still need our daily recess. We need to expel energy other than what we do in the workplace. We need to let our brains go off in a different direction for awhile to either tune out or be stimulated by other means in order to be refreshed and ready to resume our responsibilities. We lose something crucial in our ability to function optimally if we don't.

So how do you spend your daily "recess"? Do you allow yourself time each day that is your time alone and no one else's? Are you kind enough to yourself to take a well-deserved time-out? Starting this month, I challenge you to find something each day that you can do just for yourself... meditate, paint, dance, take a stroll in a park or forest preserve, go window shopping, plan a dream vacation, do a crossword puzzle, take some pictures, call a friend or relative. Do something that brings joy and renewed energy in your life... explore and create a space and an activity that you can call your own "daily vacation" and begin to give yourself that much-needed break. The recess bell is calling you!

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Comments

[Pamela]

So true. Most companies thought that by spending more time in the working area means better productivity. They often miss the point that workers are only humans and need a break to re-energize.

[Alan]

I really enjoy recess breaks.
As much as possible, I a make sure that I get short breaks from work. It may not be enough to have a snack, but enough to clear the mind of the recent task.

[FitBuff - Total Mind and Body Fitness]

Hey Laura!

Great article! We've included it in this week's FitBuff.com Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival:

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